In 1547, England's King Henry VIII died; he was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward VI.

In 1596, English navigator Sir Francis Drake died off the coast of Panama; he was buried at sea.

In 1853, Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti was born in Havana.

In 1902, 100 years ago, the Carnegie Institute was established in Washington, D.C.

In 1909, the United States ended direct control over Cuba.

In 1915, the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.

In 1916, Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Wilson to the Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.

In 1945, during World War II, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

In 1980, six U.S. diplomats who had avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran flew out of Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats.

In 1982, Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued U.S. Brig. Gen. James L. Dozier, 42 days after he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.

Ten years ago: President George H.W. Bush, in his State of the Union address, proposed tax breaks and business incentives to revive the economy, and announced dramatic cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. A multinational Middle East peace conference opened in Moscow.

Five years ago: O.J. Simpson's fate was placed in the hands of a civil court jury that was charged with deciding whether Simpson should be held liable for the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. (The jury found that Simpson was liable, and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages.)

One year ago: Only a week after naming a record-setting 37 new cardinals, Pope John Paul II announced five more cardinals -- two Germans, and one each from South Africa, Bolivia and Ukraine. The Baltimore Ravens' brazen defense backed up its bragging, beating the New York Giants 34-to-7 in the Super Bowl.